summercomfort

Okay, so Tuesday, went over to Lillian's who had a GIGANTIC TV (!!), watched TTT with snarkish commentary and much following along the lines. Then headed over at about 8pm to get in line for LotR. But the tickets were for this random theater in the middle of nowhere, so we were like, the 3rd in line, so major lam3rz. And I was hoping for a total geek experience!! But anyway, took a few pictures, chatted, doodled, went in.

Some parts were... anyway, I would have updated earlier, like yesterday, but Joanne and I had a bitch-fest via AIM, so now I'm slightly calmer. (But of course you can't really tell b/c it's all on the inside anyway. Curse my lack of facial muscles!)

1. Frodo-Sam-Gollum

Wow, very very well told. Can't find much to nitpick The Sam-Gollum thing was... well, it's kinda like how in the Kenshin OAVs where Tomoe does the cross-scar thing which is different from the book and at first you're like wtf?! but then you kinda realize that it's different but it works better in its own way. And definitely brought home the point that it's all about the Ring in the end.

2. Ending

Umm... I totally think PJ could have done it better. It dragged on like a long dying speech. It's almost as if he made a couple of different alternate endings, couldn't decide which one's better, and just tacked it all on. I personally think it would have been better if Frodo picked up the narrative after the blackout over Mt.Doom. Y'know, waking up, turns out he isn't dead, and then basically tying all the loose-ends from Frodo's PoV, or even extending the book-writing voice-over.

In general, too, there was just a lack of closure over lots of things. You spend all that time developing Eowyn and Faramir and we don't even get to see them falling in love or marrying. All the people that we care about just seemed to have been abandoned in the middle of the story, around the part when Aragorn brings over the ghost army. It says something when Aragorn's moment of becoming king is in the ghost place and not in the White City. It's like, one minute, he's all ranger-dressed and battling in the Pelennor fields, the next moment, he's sitting in the hall all kinda informal-king. Denethor was just plain crazy, not smart-crazy, and the ending was just like "All the stuff from the past 9 hours? They don't count!" You don't even get a profound feeling of "and they lived happily ever after." It was more like a superficial and hollow "it's over". In the Shire, too. It's like everyone's trying to turn back the clock. I don't care that there's no Scouring, as long as the hobbits seem more surprised at the maturity and growth of the Four.

3. Battle

Admittedly, there is a great deal of awesome battle details and actions. But it just lacked the overall ooomph that it should be. What happened to the great hosts meeting at the White City? It's sad when the pre-battle scenes contained more emotional grandeur than the battle itself -- the lighting of the signal flares, the desperate charge for Osgiliath, the converging of Sauron's forces... Where's the many banners who come at Gondor's call? Where's the dust, the blood, the desperation?

Joanne pointed this out, and I totally agree -- The White City isn't lovable. There's no sense of its age, its civilization, its failing majesty. What happened to the dude that Pippin befriends? What happened to the guards whose love for Faramir overcame their duty to Denethor? All we see are people in beautiful WETA armor getting bashed in by the orcs. And Gandalf being all leaderly and stuff. Whereas there was a distinct image of Rohan, of the Shire, of Rivendell, there is none for Gondor. The orc attack lead to individual responses by Gandalf and Pippin, but there's no great Gondorian host. No one defended Denethor, no one welcomed/doubted Aragorn... Gondor was more passive than the audience.

Eowyn's scene... Okay, the Witch-King shouldn't have been that easy to kill. At least the impact of his evil should have been more apparent on Eowyn and Merry. It shouldn't have been "ah ha! I'm not a man so you're Shakespearanly screwed!" And um.. Theoden's dying speech? wtf? Give us more Eowyn time!

In front of the Black Gate--- that was pathetic. Gandalf isn't even on his horse! Overall there's just no sense of determination and desperation. Legolas obviously styled Aragorn's hair some time in the process, cause it doesn't look good on him.

4. Aragorn
Dear Viggo.. Just because Aragorn abandons the Ranger doesn't mean he should abandon his humanity. You looked hella clunky and wooden in that Kingly armor. And the song? No. Leave the singing to Pippin of the marvelous voice. You're supposed to be wise, and strong, and much more approachable. You were more kingly in the last defense of Rohan than in that stupid ceremony thing. For 2 and a half movies you did such a good "king in the rough", what happened with the king revealed? And your performance at the Black Gate? I suggest finding a new speech-writer. Did you get Orly to write your speech along with doing the hair? Bad choice on both accounts. Letting John Rys Davies steal every scene...

There was much rehashing of old stuff -- the Legolas Gimli thing, the Theoden thing... PJ is supposed to take everything a step further, reach the pinnacle and all that. But he doesn't. Phooey.